As an autocrosser,
one of the most frustrating things is figuring out how to get
your tires to the event when you own a car with a tiny trunk. I
went the route of stuffing them in the front seat, but when I
upped the fronts to 225/50s, that became a chore. I had a hitch,
it was time to get a trailer.

I seriously
considered buying one of the little trailers that I've seen
pulled behind cars, but I wanted an enclosed trailer, so that
wouldn't do. After pricing enclosed trailers, I decided against
that...but then I looked at Donor Vehicle 3 in the back yard and
got thinking...

Donor Vehicle 3 was
involved in an unfortunate accident that destroyed the left front
suspension and tweaked the cowl. It was a total loss and I had
decided to part it out rather than fix it. Looking over the
engine compartment, I realized there's a lot of room in there if
you ditch the engine...and here's the tale.

Here she
is...doesn't look too bad, does it? Looks can be deceiving. The
left strut rod was bent back and broken at one of the screws, the
strut was bent, both front wheels were bent. The driver T-top
wouldn't fit properly and the driver's door did not seat
properly. Lots of frame work to get it back on the road....not
worth it.

This is about six weeks after the first shot was
taken. The interior is stripped and the front 18 inches of the
car were cut off to revive another 91 I had.

Same thing, different angle.

Before cutting the
car in half, anything that ran from front to back had to be
removed or set off to one side. I thought I got everything, but
ended up missing the two smaller coolant lines (that explains why
the tunnel gets so hot...) and brake lines. The Sawzall didn't
mind, though :)

This is just to
show that most items running through the tunnel were removed.
Getting the gas tank out by yourself is fun...Not.

Step one was
cutting through the T top bar. This picture was taken after some
cutting had been done on the floor and frame rails. After cutting
through the top bar, the car did not separate a bit.

After the T top bar
came the frame rails. Using a tip from a fellow MR2 owner
(Thanks, Steve!), I cut one frame rail, then went to the other
and slowly worked the two sides until the final cuts were in the
middle. If you try to cut all the way across at once, the saw
will bind and tear up blades. I was able to do this entire
procedure on one used blade.

Once I started
cutting into the tunnel, it really started to separate. I had put
four jack stands under the frame rails of the car, but found that
there is NO weight to the body of the car. It promptly tilted
forward and off of the rear stands and I had to run and put one
under the front trunk to hold the car up.

One final cut and
it was free. The car had been sitting in my back yard for some
time without moving and had settled a bit. I had to use the 85
(yep, the one with the rice boy stripe over the hood....that
wasn't originally intended. It was a rust prevention measure gone
horribly out of control) to pull it back out of the ruts. I then
pushed it around the front of the house for final disassembly.

This horribly out
of focus picture (the batteries in the camera were going and I
couldn't find the fresh ones) is how the car looks now. I hacked
off the roof to save the back window (one of these days, I'll get
some piano wire and take it out) and put it behind the house.
After that, I cut away the firewall (which has about 1/2 inch of
thick hard black insulator between two panels). Then I stopped
for the night.

This is what it
looks like now. I had a draw bar and floor welded in and got it
in just good enough shape to use for the final round in the SCCA
SEDiv Championship series. I then took it to Denver for the first
ever National IMOC meet and Denver Solo Week.

This is what the
floor looks like. The strut towers were enclosed for a cleaner
look, but boy, do they take up a lot of room. The tires JUST fit
between the towers. Over the winter, all of the holes in the side
panels will be closed off and a tonneau cover made. It pulls
great, holds a lot of gear (with the trunk still intact, you also
get some security) and attracts a lot of attention. If anyone is
interested in having one of these, let me know. Mind you, it will
not be cheap as a LOT of fabrication is involved.